The situation put Lee in a difficult position because a team only can register four foreign players on the active roster at a time. Ramirez and Kroon play significant roles on the team and are almost never taken off the roster.

Yomiuri manager Tatsunori Hara has had to juggle with Greisinger, Burnside and Lee. If either Greisinger or Burnside starts, Lee has to be off the active roster.

A humble star, Lee never voices discontent over the situation.

“If I’d had good results from the season opener, it wouldn’t have been like this. That’s my responsibility,” Lee said Thursday. “I have to adapt to it.”

But Hara may call on Lee more toward the end of the season and Climax Series playoffs, because the slugger has finally found the sweet spot on his bat.

After hitting his second homer of the season against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows last Sunday, Lee, who guided South Korea to its first Olympic gold medal in baseball in China, had a monster game against the Yokohama BayStars on Wednesday, smacking three homers with seven RBIs.

“He’s for real,” Hara told reporters after the game.

“I’ve never lost faith in him. Those were big home runs for sure.”

The second-place Giants, who were 13 games behind the CL-leading Tigers in June, have shrunk the gap to three entering a three-game face-to-face matchup with the Tigers at Tokyo Dome from Friday.

As the Giants have increased the pressure on the Kansai club, Lee’s bat has certainly been a big part of it.

“I just want to perform the best I can in the few remaining games,” he said.